The Scribbly Man

11

In the morning, not wanting to wake Kahlan if she was still asleep, Richard cautiously opened the bedroom door just enough to peek in. Vika, just behind him, leaned in over his right shoulder to have a look for herself. Cassia, just inside the double doors to one side, and Rikka, to the other, both turned to glare out at the intruder. When they saw it was him, their scowls relaxed.

Instead of seeing Kahlan asleep, Richard was surprised to see her just finishing getting dressed in a fresh new Confessor dress. The satiny smooth material, the square neck, and the way it hugged her shape were just as stunning as the first time he had seen her in the same kind of dress. He didn’t think that there had ever been a better example of femininity and authority combined into one dress. He marveled at her every time he saw her in it. And more so when she was out of it.

Since she was awake and up, Richard opened the doors and strode into the room, happy to see her looking alert and well, but not at all pleased that she was getting dressed rather than resting.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

She cast a brief glance his way. “Getting ready for the petitioners in the great hall.”

Richard did his best to contain himself. “You aren’t finished being healed yet. Shale says you need to rest so that she can finish what she needs to do. You can’t go to the great hall.”

She gave him a cold look. “I certainly can, and I am going to. You are going as well.”

“Kahlan, finishing your healing is more important.”

“That can wait. This is more important.”

Richard was baffled. “What are you talking about? There is nothing more important than finishing the healing.”

She took a long, aggressive stride toward him. “Everyone saw a lot of strange and frightening things yesterday. They don’t know what any of it is about. Rumors will no doubt have already spread like wildfire. Those rumors and suspicions will undermine your rule and degrade our authority.

“Overnight stories—embellished stories—will have spread throughout the camp down below. People will be worried and anxious and already believe that we are in great trouble.

“We need everyone to come back this morning and see that there was nothing to their fears and that it was only a minor interruption that we took care of. We must show everyone that the rumors are wrong and we have everything under control.”

“Kahlan, I understand all that, I really do, but that’s secondary. You can’t—”

“The subject is not open to debate,” she snapped as she turned to the tall mirror. She picked up a hairbrush from the dressing table.

For some reason, she looked to be in a bad mood and her displeasure seemed directed at him. He got the uneasy feeling that he was in trouble. He supposed she had every right to be angry that he had let her go alone to question Nolo without even suggesting that he go with her. They could have done it later, together. Richard should have been there close by. That was a mistake, and it was his mistake. It had nearly gotten her killed.

Kahlan abruptly turned back to him from the mirror where she was fussing one-handed with her hair. Her left arm hung mostly limp at her side. She shook the brush at him.

“After we have the audience with petitioners in the great hall and reassure everyone, we are going to go question Nolo. I trust that you have him locked up?”

“I do, but first Shale needs—”

“I don’t recall offering you alternatives,” she said in an icy tone.

This was not Kahlan. This was the Mother Confessor, who was not at all happy. Worse, it was all too clear that he was the center of her ire.

“Kahlan,” he said softly as he slipped an arm around her waist, “I’m sorry I let you go alone with Nolo. It’s my fault. I should have been a lot more cautious. I should have been there with you.”

That seemed to only set her off. She pulled away from him and glanced around at the six Mord-Sith in the room.

“Please leave us.” She gestured with the brush, shooing them all out. “Wait for us outside. We will be out shortly.”

The six Mord-Sith shared looks and started filing out.

Berdine leaned close on her way by. “I think you are in trouble, Lord Rahl. She’s been calling you ‘my husband’ ever since she woke up.”

“Great,” he muttered. “Get Shale and tell her Kahlan is up, then wait outside for us. Tell her to hurry.”

Richard closed the doors behind them, trying to think of a way to talk Kahlan out of putting her well-being last. When he turned back to the room, Kahlan was brushing her hair with her one good hand as if she wanted to rip it out by the roots. She was now angry at her hair for not bending to her will.

Richard crossed their grand bedroom to be closer to her. “Kahlan, what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” She turned to him in a fury. “What’s wrong!”

“Tell me. Please? What is it?”

She tossed the brush on the dressing stand and rapidly closed the distance to him to start jabbing her finger against the center of his chest. “What’s wrong is your promise, that’s what’s wrong!”

“Promise?” Richard was mystified. “What promise?”

She exploded. “What promise? What promise!” She jabbed her finger hard against his chest. “Your promise as a wizard!”

Richard was truly confused. He grabbed her wrist to stop her jabbing.

“Kahlan, I don’t know what promise you’re talking about.”

“It obviously meant so little that you don’t even remember!”

Richard heaved a sigh in frustration, trying to hold his own anger in check. “I guess not, so why don’t you tell me.”

She tried to jab a finger at him with her left hand, since he was holding her right wrist, but she couldn’t hold the arm up on its own long enough. It fell limp to her side.

“You promised me a new golden age.” Her beautiful green eyes welled up with tears. “That was what you said.”

Before he could reply, she pointed toward the balcony beyond the heavy drapes. “You promised me that night, out there. You said that with the star shift everything had changed and that this is the beginning of a new golden age. I asked you if you were sure. You said that it was a promise that you were giving me as the First Wizard, and that wizards always keep their promises!”

“I remember,” he said with an earnest nod.

“Do you, Richard? Do you even know what you were promising? I think you did. I think you were just saying something that sounded nice to make me feel good right then, when all along you knew the truth. The truth was something very different. You of all people are supposed to always be dead honest with me, but you were deceiving me. That’s as good as a lie.”

Richard frowned down at her. “I remember the promise of a new golden age, and I meant it. I don’t know why you think I was deceiving you.”

She gritted her teeth and then leaned in. “Nolo told me the name of the goddess that promises to take our world and slaughter us all. Do you know what she is called?”

“No.”

“The Golden Goddess.”

He was speechless at the news.

She started jabbing his chest with a finger again. “The Golden Goddess! You promised terror and death in a new age for our world under the Golden Goddess, that’s what you were promising me!”

Richard snatched her wrist again. “She’s called the Golden Goddess? Kahlan, I didn’t know that. I swear, that’s not what I meant.”

“Wizards always keep their promises, often in the same way that a witch woman’s prediction always turns out to be true… just not in the way you expected when you heard it, but true nonetheless. We are entering a new age of terror under the Golden Goddess. That’s the golden age you promised me!”

Before Richard could answer, the doors burst open. It was an angry Shale. Her aura crackled with flickering flashes of fury as she marched across the room.

“What are you doing up! You need to be in bed and I—”

“We are going to the great hall to show our people that everything is stable and all is well,” Kahlan said, cutting her off. “If my husband and I are not there it would only add fuel to rumors and create the impression that the Lord Rahl and the Mother Confessor couldn’t handle things and we are being overwhelmed by trouble, which would mean they have no chance against such trouble. The rumors could get out of control and start a panic.

“We can’t afford to leave people with the impression that things are out of control. I won’t allow it. We will grant audiences to petitioners, as promised, in order to reassure people.”

“Perhaps for a brief appearance,” Shale offered as a compromise, “and then we come right back here to continue what I need to do to finish healing you.”

Kahlan fixed the woman in a hot glare. “We will spend the day seeing petitioners. A full day, just as people expect. After that, I am going down to question Nolo. You may come if you wish.”

Shale, looking concerned, reached out in an attempt to calm Kahlan down. “Mother Confessor, you need—”

“What I need is for all of you to stop arguing with me!” She started for the door. “If you want to come with me, then keep out of my way. Otherwise, stay here.”

Richard shared a troubled look with Shale.

“This is not wise,” the sorceress whispered to him.

“Neither is crossing the Mother Confessor,” Richard told her.

With a grimace, Shale nodded. “We had better do as she wants and go with her. Whether she realizes it or not, she is going to need help. We need to be close by.”